The Secret of Zorro An Old Enemy Chapter Two by Ella Christian @1999-2001 Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com Chapter Two Mordante For the first fifteen minutes of the ride, they said nothing to one another. Elizabeth tried to wrap herself in a blanket to stay warm, and sat as far into her corner of the hooded buggy as she could. Diego could feel her shivering beside him, but he was so concentrated on steering the horses through the rain and getting home quickly that he could not take the time to try to comfort her. The roads were deteriorating rapidly. He was already worried about the crossing over the La Brea Creek ahead. What was normally a half-hour journey from home into the pueblo was always longer in inclement weather. He feared that this trip would take over an hour. He kept looking around behind the carriage to be certain they were not being followed. Finally the rain eased slightly. He looked over at his wife, who was staring straight ahead, her teeth chattering. "I believe the man at the bar was Enrique Monastario," he said to her. "What man?" Elizabeth asked. Then she did a second take. "Monastario?" she repeated. "Si." "Are you sure?" "I am pretty sure. Garcia saw him, too. He got a better look than I did." "But..." "Even his step was the same," Diego interrupted. "I know it was him." The rain resumed its torrential downpour. Spying a rocky overhang ahead, Diego guided the horses to it in order to allow them a brief respite. They were still on the main road, half a mile short of the La Brea creek and the turn that would take them north towards Rancho de la Vega. The horses shook their heads and snorted once they were under the rocks. "Why are we stopping?" Elizabeth asked. "It is only going to get worse." "The horses deserve it," he answered. He finally looked at her. "Will you ever trust me?" "I do trust you," she answered. "But I do not like it when you rush me around without an explanation! I do not like it when you....Diego, you shook me." He put the reins down, looking at his knees for a moment. "Si, I did, and I am sorry, Elizabeth. I should not have done that." He looked at her again. "But I did not want him to see you, I did not want him to have any idea of who you are, what your relationship to me is. He may find out, he certainly will if he remains in the pueblo. But we must not make it easy for him." Elizabeth was quiet. She was not responding to his apology. "I thought you said he went back to Spain," she finally said, shivering again. Diego put his arm around her, and she resisted. He held her against him anyway, so he could warm her a little. "I believe that he did," he answered. "But it would appear he has returned. It has been six years since he was disgraced. That is more than enough time to go and come back." She remained stiff, even as he held her. "Are you sure he is a threat?" Elizabeth asked. "Do you really believe he would hurt me?" "I do not want to find out," Diego said. "Once we get home, I must go back as El Zorro and find out what his business is in California." Something occurred to Elizabeth, which made her sit up even straighter. "He would not hurt us, would he? He would not hurt Esperanza?" "Elizabeth, I do not know what he might do. That is why I had to get you away from the Tavern and why we have to go home." She reclaimed her corner away from him and shivered again. Diego sat there for moment, beginning to realize that something very bad had happened between them. He urged the horses forward. It was soon thereafter that they came upon the creek, which so overflowed banks that Diego had to give up on that ford and drive north to the next one a mile away. That, too, was an impossible crossing with the new rain. He urged the horses northward yet again, to find that the next ford was barely passable. Instructing Elizabeth to hold on, he got out and led the horses across, soaking himself from the hips down. By the time they got home two hours after they had left the pueblo, both of them were completely soaked and extremely cold. ***** They pulled into the stableyard in silence. Diego jumped out as Simeon, the number two vaquero on the ranch, came running out of his quarters in the rain. "It is late, patron," he said, taking the bridles of the shivering horses. "I am sorry you and Doņa Elizabeth were caught in such rain. Don Alejandro will be glad to see you have arrived." "Everything is all right here?" Diego asked. Simeon looked puzzled. "Si, Don Diego, except for the worry in the household over how long you have been gone." Diego go out and walked around to help Elizabeth out. "Thank you, Simeon. Make sure the horses are cared for and warmed, they worked very hard tonight." "Si, Don Diego." He took Elizabeth's hand and helped her out into the rain. He hurried her across the muddy yard and into the patio. Maria appeared in the lit doorway. "Start a hot bath, Maria," Diego instructed. "Upstairs, please." "Si, Don Diego," she said. "Is Esperanza all right?" Elizabeth asked her. Maria frowned at the inquiry. "Why, si, Doņa Elizabeth, she is asleep in her room." Elizabeth said nothing further. Diego kept his arm around her as they ascended the stairs, both of them shivering. At the top of the staircase, Bernardo stood beneath the overhang with a dry blanket. Alejandro emerged from his room, in his robe, as Diego wrapped the blanket around his wife and then pulled on around himself. "We were worried, what happened?" Alejandro asked. "It is nearly 2:00 a.m.!" "I want to see the baby," Elizabeth said to Diego. "She is sound asleep," Alejandro said. "I just checked on her." Diego looked at Elizabeth and then nodded at Bernardo. "Get Maria, help with drawing the bath and then have Maria help seņora out of her clothes." Bernardo frowned, picking up on the tension between Diego and Elizabeth. He took Elizabeth's arm lightly, and she went with him until they reached Esperanza's door. Then, insistent, she stopped and went in, taking Bernardo's candle. Diego looked at Alejandro. "Do me a favor, Father. Take Esperanza in with you tonight. Have Bernardo move her bed, or just let her sleep with you." Now Alejandro frowned, recognizing that something was even more wrong than the rain and an unusually late arrival. "What is it?" he asked. "Monastario," Diego said. Alejandro started. "He walked into the Tavern tonight, after the rain started." "Monastario!" Alejandro exclaimed. "Garcia was with me. He is a sure as I am, I could tell from the look on his face. Elizabeth and Clementia came in just after he did and we rushed them out. The fords were all overflowing so I had to drive several miles north to get across the La Brea creek." Alejandro looked at his son carefully for the first time and realized he was not only soaked, but covered with mud. "You must get into the bath too, my son," he said. "You are as cold and even more soaked than Elizabeth." Diego ignored this. "Will you take Esperanza?" he asked. "Si, of course I will," Alejandro answered. "Monastario!" he said again. "Diego, does he know you have a family?" "I do not know." The grimness between them deepened, as the possibilities related to the appearance of Zorro's worst and most capable foe, and a man who knew who Zorro really was, set in. "How did he look?" Alejandro asked. "Did you speak to him?" Diego shook his head. "I was only intent on getting Elizabeth out of there. He looked....wet." Diego felt a shudder in his spine, hearing the echo of that unmistakable footstep on the Tavern floor. "Are you certain it was him?" "Garcia and I both recognized him without saying a word." He paused, and then said, "I must go back into the pueblo as Zorro and see what has brought him here." "No, Diego, you must not do that," Alejandro said quickly. "Your first obligation is to your family tonight, you need to be here with Elizabeth. She is clearly very upset. I will take care of Esperanza, you must tend to your wife." "That may be hard to do," Diego said quietly. The wind rose slightly and the rain continued its pounding on the roof. "No one is going to be out on a night like this, not even Monastario," Alejandro said to him. "You must stay here tonight, not go back and chill yourself to the bone all over again. Get yourself warmed in the bath and get some sleep. Take care of Elizabeth. I will ride into the pueblo early in the morning and find out what is going on. I will talk with Monastario myself, to find out what has brought him here." Diego started to protest but his father interrupted. "Diego, you do not need a confrontation between Monastario and Zorro!" he said. "Do not create one where one may not be in order!" He put his hand on his son's arm. "Do not worry. We will protect our family." Diego finally nodded, grateful for his father's word of determined encouragement. His plan made sense. "Thank you, Father," he said softly. Maria appeared. "The bath is ready, Don Diego," she said. "But Doņa Elizabeth does not want to leave Esperanza." Diego passed Maria and went into Esperanza's room. In the candlelight, Elizabeth was sitting in the chair beside their sleeping daughter's bed. "Sweetheart," he said, taking her shivering shoulder. "Come." "No," she said pulling away. "Father is coming to get her, he will keep her with him tonight," he said gently. "You are freezing. Come, Liz." She looked up at him, and then back at their sleeping child. She had taken the baby out onto the patio that afternoon, where she crawled around in the sunshine and babbled many unintelligible things to her mother. She was on the verge of talking. Elizabeth's heart was in her throat, thinking about her precious daughter, considering the danger, and trying to push aside her terror over Diego's action that night. "I don't want her out of my sight," she said. "She will be fine with my father," Diego tried to assure her. He pulled at her again. This time, so cold she was nearly blue, she rose up to follow him out. Alejandro was at the door. "I will get her now," he said. He took Elizabeth's cold hand. "Do not worry, my dear," he said. "I will slay an army to protect Esperanza." Elizabeth had to smile softly, for she knew her father-in-law was speaking the truth. She nodded and let Diego lead her to the room with the steaming bath. ***** Half an hour later, Diego pulled back the covers and helped his wife into their bed. They had spoken little as they took turns in the hot water, slowly warming back to normal temperature. She had gotten in first, while he doused off the mud and filth he had accumulated. When she stepped out to dry her long hair with a towel, he got in and warmed himself. The rain was pounding on the roof. Bernardo had started a fire to help counter the cold, so the light in the room flickered gently. Diego tried to steer her onto her stomach. "Let me rub your back," he said, sitting in the bed beside her. Elizabeth hesistated, and then did as he told her. He began stroking her shoulders, covered by her white gown. "Are you warm now?" he asked. She nodded. "I want the baby with us," she murmured. "Let's not wake her up again," Diego said. "She is fine with my father." Elizabeth lay in silence while his big hand moved on her back. It felt like her husband's hand, not the hand of the stranger who had shaken her earlier in the pueblo stable. Nothing was said for some time. Diego could tell that she was still terribly upset. "Liz," Diego said. "Talk to me." She shut her eyes. "I do not know who you are," she said. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You shook me tonight, you talked to me as if...," she said, unable to finish. "I am afraid now, not only of Monastario and for Esperanza." Her voice became very small. "I am afraid of you." He lay down on his side next to her, continuing to stroke her back. "Oh, darling, I did not mean to frighten you, I did not mean to hurt you. It was a moment of...." he shook his head. "It was a terrible lapse, I could only think of getting you away from there. Please forgive me." He waited. "Elizabeth," he said softly. She said nothing, her head on the pillow looking away from him. She simply lay there passively as he stroked her back. "Liz, please," he said. "Turn over. Look at me. Please sweetheart, please look at me." She lay still for a moment and then turned onto her side, looking at his face in the firelight. "You have the face of my husband," she said, her hand coming to his cheek. His hand came over hers, his eyes closing for a moment. He kissed her palm and kept her hand in his, opening his eyes. "You have to forgive me," he said. Elizabeth looked into his dark, beautiful hazel eyes, the kind eyes that had enraptured her on the moonlit night when she first met El Zorro. The same eyes she saw when her little daughter looked up at her and smiled. Tears came into her own eyes. "Don't let him hurt Esperanza," she said. She hesitated, and then moved towards him and buried her head in his shoulder. He took her into his arms, holding her carefully, nearly wanting to weep himself. "I won't let him hurt any of us," he said. "Father is going into the pueblo early in the morning to find out what his purpose is, in returning to Los Angeles." "I am glad you are not going tonight, as El Zorro," she said into his shoulder. He stroked her hair. "I realized as I was talking to my father that it does not matter if he sees me as Zorro or as Diego. He knows, either way, who I am." They were quiet for a while. "Were you afraid of him, before?" Elizabeth asked. "I had a healthy respect for his sword, and I knew the depth of his greed," Diego answered. "By the time he was disgraced I knew both his strength and his folly." He pulled her more tightly against him, and to his relief she accepted his embrace. "He is intelligent and cunning, as well as a world-class swordsman and a formidable shot. He is the most disciplined opponent I have ever faced. And I was his undoing. If I was not entirely afraid before, I certainly am now. He knows who I am. And now I have a family." "But no one would believe him now, if he tried to expose you." "I do not think he would come here to expose me, sweetheart." Elizabeth read between the lines and clung to him more tightly. "It will be all right," Diego said to her. They lay there as the rain pounded their roof. Before long Diego sensed that she had fallen asleep. He lay there, reconsidering whether or not to dress as Zorro and ride Tornado back to the pueblo for a confrontation with his old enemy. He felt a powerful impulse to do so, to put an end to anything before it could start and thus pre-empt Monastario. Yet he knew nothing of what had brought the disgraced commandante back. He had to wait. He had to remain the fox, and to remember that, as before, it would be wit rather than the sword that gave would allow him to prevail. He relaxed, feeling Elizabeth breathe as she lay against him in her sleep. Settled that he could do nothing more about Monastario for the moment, he let himself focus on his beloved. He could not believe he had shaken her. Though not physically damaging, it was an awful and violent thing to do, no matter how distressed he was with the situation and how frustrated he was with getting her to cooperate with him. He had no idea he was capable of doing something like that to her. It frightened him. He leaned his chin lightly onto her head where it rested on his shoulder, then kissed the top of her hair lightly. "I am so sorry," he whispered softly. ****** Diego awoke with a start, hearing a knock on the door. Elizabeth, still snuggled at his side, sat up too. "What is it?" he asked. "It is Maria, patron. Don Alejandro is leaving for the pueblo and he wanted me to bring Esperanza to you." "I'll get her," Elizabeth said, getting out of the bed and going to the door. She unlocked it and was greeted by her daughter, still half-asleep, in Maria's arms. It was still raining and very dark, despite being past the hour of sunrise. Elizabeth took the baby carefully, trying to let her stay with her sleepiness. "Thank you, Maria," she said. "Don Diego and I will keep her with us for a while. Has she eaten anything?" Maria shook her head. "She has not really awakened." "All right," Elizabeth said. "I will take care of her, but have her breakfast ready in an hour or so. And ours too, for that matter." Maria nodded and turned to go downstairs. Elizabeth pulled the door shut, re-locked it, and came back to the bed. "We have a little sleepyhead this morning," she told Diego, putting the baby next to him. "I think we are all going to be sleepyheads this morning," he said, settling the baby between them as Elizabeth got back under the covers. Esperanza barely moved, snuggled between her parents. They watched her eyes close as she went back to sleep. Diego leaned over and kissed her forehead lightly. "Keep sleeping, muchacha," he said to her softly. He looked at Elizabeth, touching her cheek with his forefinger. Elizabeth closed her eyes peacefully. Diego let himself drift back towards sleep again, but not before he paused in his heart and wished his father well on his mission. ****** Juan Bottega always opened the bar and food service at his Tavern at 8:00 a.m. no matter how late it was open the night, or early morning, before. At precisely 8:05, he was surprised to see Alejandro de la Vega enter in from the rain. No one else was around; in fact, as Juan knew, the pueblo plaza was near-deserted because of all the rain. "Tell me you have some good coffee brewed," Alejandro said, shaking off the water from his coat and removing his hat. "The best," Bottega smiled. He offered a blanket across the bar. "You are very wet, Don Alejandro." "Si. Thank you," Alejandro replied, accepting the offer and trying to dry himself off. Bottega poured the coffee. "What brings you into the pueblo in such a rainstorm?" Alejandro ran the blanket across his thick head of white hair and then put it down. "Juan, I must ask you something." He took a sip of coffee. "Ah, you made this yourself," he observed. "It is the strongest coffee in California," Bottega replied. "What is it you want to ask me?" "A man came into the Tavern last night, quite late." "Ah. Si, right before Don Diego and Sergeant Garcia left with their wives." Alejandro nodded. "The man who came in. Did you know him?" "Si, Don Alejandro, I knew him." Alejandro took a deep breath. "Is he still here? Did he take a room in the Inn?" "Si, he took a room. But he left this morning half an hour ago, on his big white stallion." Alejandro's heart sank. "He still rides the white stallion?" "Si, I think it was the same horse he rode before." "Did he say why he was here?" "He did not want to talk, Don Alejandro. I do not think he wanted to be recognized. He kept himself shrouded under his coat and hat and a big scarf around his face," Juan gestured to indicate how he had been wrapped in the scarf. "I do not think he noticed anyone except me in the Tavern. He was very intent on getting his room." "What did he say to you, exactly?" Juan shrugged. "He came in all wet and walked to the bar and quietly he said to me, 'I need a room tonight, do you have one?' and I said, 'Si,' and gave him the key to room seven. I asked him for ten pesos and he have them to me, and then he asked if someone could tend to his horse and I said, 'Si, for another three pesos,' and he gave me five pesos, so I sent a boy out to take care of the white horse. And he went upstairs." "Did he sign your guest book?" "Oh, si, he signed it." Juan reached under the bar and pulled out the tattered book with twenty years' of guest names in it. Alejandro waited as he opened it and turned to the most recent entry page. He flipped the book around and let Alejandro read. "Seņor Enrique....Mordante?" Alejandro read aloud. He looked at Juan. "Mordante?" Juan shrugged. "That is what he signed." "But....did you not ask him why he did not sign his own name?" "I have learned not to ask questions, Don Alejandro, if a customer's money is good. It is Sergeant Garcia's job to check their papers, not mine." Alejandro gave him a short glare. Juan was famous in the pueblo for his ability to be unmoved by pressure from his customers, the military, or anyone else excepting his wife Rosaria, of whom he was mortally afraid. Now, facing one of the most important dons in the community, he simply said, "Would you like more coffee?" "But it was him, Juan, you are sure of it?" Alejandro persisted. "Si," he replied. "No one else on earth has blue eyes like his. It was Capitan Monastario." "How did he look otherwise?" "He looked tired and wet, and perhaps a little older." "And in what direction did he ride, this morning?" Alejandro asked. "East, Don Alejandro. He rode to the east."